The increasing popularity of outdoor recreational activities continues to broaden the demand for all types of portable, compact furniture. In particular, portable and compact furniture is not only in high demand by seasoned outdoor enthusiasts but is also desired for recreational activities such as casual camping, spectator sports, and fishing. Nonetheless, most existing portable, outdoor furniture usually falls into one of two categories: (1) ultra-lightweight, compact furniture designed for backpacking, which typically compromises comfort for reduced size and weight and often requires complex set up; or (2) more sturdy, comfortable furniture that may be portable, but is not particularly lightweight or well suited for storage.
Traditionally, rocking chairs are used to relax in a soothing and comfortable home environment. As casual camping and relaxed outdoor pursuits become more common, several configurations of folding rocking chairs have been designed to enable users to transport traditional rocking chairs to campsites, parks, sports events, concerts, and other outdoor arenas. Although folding chairs are generally easier to transport than traditional, non-folding furniture, the existing folding rocking chairs are particularly cumbersome and awkward. This is in part because the rocker rails are typically large and their length and curvature is ill-suited for folding. In addition, rocker rails on folding chairs require additional hinges and add weight. Accordingly, the available configurations of outdoor, portable rocking chairs are not particularly convenient nor are they well-suited for compact storage and transportation.
Conversely, lightweight, easy-to-use, compact camping chairs do not have the appeal or serve the same function as a traditional rocking chair around a campfire. Not only are there no existing configurations of these lightweight chairs that facilitate rocking, but because these chairs often sacrifice comfort, ruggedness, and ease-of-use for size and weight, adding rocking rails to such ultra-lightweight chairs is an unappealing alternative for casual campers, sports spectators, and other users.
Consequently there is a need and a demand for configurations of portable rocking chairs that are both comfortable and sturdy but are also compact and light-weight enough to be transported to a variety of locations and events and easily stored while not in use.